


Oliver's Birthdays

by thecomebackkids99



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: Do I need to keep tagging, F/M, Island Oliver, Married Fluff, So are Oliver's kids, Teenage Oliver, Thea is a precious child in this, happy oliver, season 1 oliver
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-16
Updated: 2017-05-16
Packaged: 2018-11-01 12:45:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,608
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10922079
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thecomebackkids99/pseuds/thecomebackkids99
Summary: Oliver finally learns how to love his birthday.





	Oliver's Birthdays

**Author's Note:**

> I don't know what this is. I got bored last night and started writing, only to realize I was writing in a tense that I never write in (so my apologizes if it doesn't sound right). And I nearly started crying at the parallels to the first and last, so I hope you enjoy!

He wakes up to someone pounding on the door, repeatedly screaming, “Ollie! Ollie!” It’s five. Because the only thing better than Thea’s own birthday is her older brother’s special day. Mostly so that she can ruin it for him. But today he smiles. It’s his fourteenth birthday today. Only two more years and he can get his license. And today his dad promised to take him fishing.

“I’m coming, Speedy.” He rolls out of bed, nearly bonking his head on the nightstand, and runs to the door. Thea’s standing outside, in only her Cinderella underwear, bouncing up and down. She’s holding a present that’s so crudely wrapped he almost laughs. But he doesn’t, and instead, scoops her up and carries her back to his bed. “What’s in here?”

“Your…pre-sent.” Usually, it comes out as ‘pwesent’ but today she says it correctly. Mostly because he spent the past two weeks teaching her. “Open it!”

He chuckles as he unwraps it, smiling when the present falls onto his lap. It’s a tiger. The wooden one he told Thea was cute when they went to the zoo a few weeks ago. “Aw, Thea. It’s adorable.” He cuddles her close to him, laughing when she erupts into a fit of giggles. “Thank you.”

“You like it?”

“I love it.”

 

* * *

 

He wakes up with a hangover on his eighteenth birthday. A hammer pounds inside his head, which sends him to the bathroom to throw up. He should be used to this by now. It’s not the first time he’s partied all night. But the first birthday that begins with him lying on the tile floor, shivering.

“Oliver?”

His mother.

“Not now, Mom.”

“Sweetie, are you okay?”

“Y-Yeah. I’m fine.”

There was a pause, but then she says, “Well, I just wanted to wish you a happy birthday. I need to go to the office, but Raisa has waffles downstairs.”

The mention of his favorite food makes him throw up again. This time, his mom knocks hard on the bathroom door. “Oliver, are you all right ?”

She has to know what he’d been doing last night. But she’s too blind. Oliver wipes the puke off his lips and pushes himself up. “I’m okay, Mom. I promise. Just a little…sick.”

“Okay. Well…happy birthday. Your dad and I love you very much.”

“Love you too.”

       

* * *

He almost forgets his twenty-third birthday. They’d just defeated Fyers. Shado is mourning her father. Slade…he didn’t seem like the kind of guy who would celebrate a birthday. So when he wakes in the morning on the floor of the plane, shivering, he closes his eyes again and imagines his sister. She would be thirteen now. Probably old enough to stop buying him ridiculous presents like tigers.

But right now it would be a nice gift.

He smiles, and hops up. Taps Shado on the shoulder. “We can go hunt if you’d like.”

“Thank you, but I’d rather stay here this morning.”

That’s the cue he needs. He just takes a knife; shooting Fyers was likely a fluke, and there wasn’t any way he could actually kill anything. He finds a spot a mile or so from the plane and sits down in the grass. The sun is just above the trees, washing over his dirty face.

Raisa would make waffles for his birthday. Before handing him a plate, she would sprinkle chocolate chips on them. Thea would belt out an off-key ‘happy birthday’, with Raisa singing in Russian.

A tear slips down his cheeks as he remembers.

He misses his birthday.

                                                       

* * *

 

He doesn’t remember his birthday. It’s not until he lands the plane on Lian Yu that he remembers that he’s a year older. In fact, as he trudges towards the plane, lugging a bag of supplies on his back, he realizes that he hasn’t remembered several of them. He’s twenty-eight now. The last time he’d thought of his birthday they’d defeated Fyers.

Now Shado is gone.

He killed Slade.

He had to snap Tatiana’s neck.

His best friend is six feet under.

In a way, he is responsible for all the death.

Why celebrate his birthday when he’s caused so much pain?

                                                           

* * *

 

When he and Felicity are together, he tells her he doesn’t want to celebrate his birthday. If they do, it’s not going to be much. That’s the deal. She honors that, but buys him a cake with his name misspelled. The designer’s fault, of course. She gives him the gift of love that night, but it doesn’t stop him from sneaking out when she falls asleep and taking a seat under the stars. At some point, Felicity’s hand lands on his shoulder. He doesn’t flinch; he’s learned her touch.

“I don’t like my birthday.”

“I know.”

“Too much has happened to me. I…” he takes a deep breath to steady his voice. “Whenever it comes around, I feel like I don’t deserve it. It’s…”

“You feel like you shouldn’t have lived another year?”

“Yeah.”

Her fingers trail along his shoulders. She doesn’t sit down, only stands above him, but it doesn’t stop him from feeling her smile. “If anything, your birthday should give you a sense of gratitude. Like you got another miracle.”

“I got a miracle when so many other people didn’t.” He glances up at her, tears filling his eyes. He doesn’t bother wiping them away. “That doesn’t seem fair.”

“Life isn’t fair, Oliver. You of all people should know that. You lived. This day should be a day of thankfulness.”

“I think we’re gonna have to agree to disagree on that one.”

She leaves it at that, and drags him back to bed.

 

* * *

 

As soon as his body reacts to the man coming around the corner, his head tells him that it’s not a great idea. Everyone yells ‘surprise!’ and Curtis―blessed Curtis―grins and says, “Happy birthday.” He’d remembered this year, only thanks to Thea’s bouncing into the mayor office yelling about how he was thirty-two. That part he did remember. He always remembered―at some point―how old he is.

He stays on the ground next to Curtis, trying to collect himself, as he stares at the sign hanging above Felicity and Thea. Then his gaze goes to the two people he loves the most in the world. They’re both laughing.

He smiles. Swallows away the emotions, though he knows they caught how close he was to breaking down. He almost does when Thea gives him a bigger hug than she’d ever given him and whispers, “Happy birthday, Ollie.” His eyes well up with tears again when Lance gives him a present and gruffly gives him a hug. It’s the first hug he’d ever gotten from him.

He chuckles when Diggle pulls out his phone and shows him a video of JJ and Lyla wishing him happy birthday, and then hugs his brother.

And with everyone else eating cake, he pulls Felicity to the side and thanks her for the party. She smiles and lifts one shoulder. “Well, Oliver, a couple years ago, you told me that you didn’t think you deserved to have another birthday. I wanted to show you that you did.” She puckers her lips and looks up at him. “Can we agree to agree on that now?”

“Yeah.” He smiles and leans in for a kiss.

 

* * *

 

He wakes up to someone pounding on the door, screaming, “Daddy! Wake up! You gotta wake up!” It’s five. Because his kids love celebrating his birthday just a tiny bit more than he does. “Hold on for a second please!” He sits up on one elbow and leans down to kiss his wife. “Good morning.”

“I thought we agreed that I get to be the one who initiates the birthday kiss.”

“Well, you initiated it on your―”

“We can’t wait any longer!” The door bursts open. Three pairs of little feet run in and jump onto the bed, giggling and squealing. William comes in a bit slower, but with a grin on his face. Oliver leans against the backboard and pulls his five-year-old daughter into his lap. She holds a present in her hands, so pitifully wrapped it makes his oldest son chuckle. Oliver taps the box and leans in closer. “What’s in the box, sweetie?”

“It’s a pwesent.”

“Mine!” Harper reaches for it, grabbing at the wrapping.

Ellie yanks it away. “Uh, uh! You don’t get that!”

“Hey, kiddos, it’s okay. Wanna help me?” He manages to fit both girls on his lap and with their help, opens the present. It’s a tiger. _The_ tiger. He can only tell because of the scratch mark down its back. “Thank you, sweetheart. I love it.” He kisses Ellie, and then Harper. Little Tommy climbs up over his sisters to give him a slobbery kiss on the lips.

Ellie reaches back and wraps her arms around his neck. “Thea said you like tigers.”

“I do. But I love you more.”

“That’s a good thing, right?”

He laughs and glances over at Felicity, curled up in the covers. Their gazes meet and they smile. Their lives have been anything but easy and simple. But they found themselves in each other. In their family. And he’d come to love his birthday. Mostly for the mornings with his family, lying in bed. When they get bored, he goes downstairs and makes waffles. With chocolate chips and whipped cream on top.

In the afternoon, he stops by the Mayor's office and receives his attack hug from his sister. 

That night, he receives his birthday gift from his wife. 

And afterwards, he sits on their deck under the stars and thanks God for another year. 

 


End file.
